"He is Jordanian. He does not have a UK passport. He would not be granted permission to enter the UK. End of story."

Relatives of Abu Qatada react to his acquittal (AP)

Qatada was handed an indefinite deportation order and the British courts deem him a risk to national security, Downing Street said. The spokesman added: "He was put on a plane to Jordan and he isn't coming back."

Nick Clegg, defended the cleric’s deportation to Jordan and said “we don’t want this man back”.

He told LBC radio: “What is absolutely clear to me is this man needed to face justice and needed to do so out of the United Kingdom and that's what this government finally achieved."

However the cleric will continue to be held on separate charges from a plot to attack tourists during Jordan's New Year celebrations in 2000.

The Home Office also said Qatada, a Jordanian national, would be unable to return to the UK because his deportation order was still in force and he was under a United Nations travel ban.

James Brokenshire, Immigration and Security Minister said: "Abu Qatada's re-trial in Jordan has been made possible thanks to this government's determination to successfully deport him from the UK.

"While the courts in Jordan have acquitted Qatada of one of the two charges against him, it is right the due process of law is allowed to take place in his own country. We await a verdict on the remaining charge.

"The UK courts agreed that Qatada posed a threat to national security in the UK, so we are pleased that we were able to remove him. He is subject to a deportation order which means he will be unable to return to the UK.”

The Islamist preacher had previously been sentenced in absentia by a Jordanian court to life imprisonment for conspiracy to carry out al Qaeda-style attacks against US targets and others in Jordan.

The prosecution had argued he was a mentor to jihadist cells in Jordan while living in exile Britain, providing spiritual and material support to a campaign of violence during the late 1990s.

But the court quashed the conspiracy charges on Thursday due to a lack of evidence.

After years of legal battles his lawyers said last May that he would return to Jordan once a treaty that guaranteed a fair trial was ratified by the Jordanian parliament.

Qatada fought extradition from Britain for years, securing backing from the European Court of Human Rights. It ruled he could be sent back to Jordan to face a retrial over a terror plot in case evidence obtained through torture is used against him.

His family erupted in applause and wept on Thursday as the judge, Ahmad Qatarneh, told the court there was no evidence to support the charges.

The preacher wore brown overalls and sat behind bars in the dock as the judge read the list of accusations. He was watched from the court by his five sisters, all fully veiled, and his son.

“The court did not find evidence to support charges against Omar Mahmud Mohammed Otman [Abu Qatada] that he conspired in late 1998 to carry out a terror attack on the American school in Amman," judge Ahmad Qatarneh said.

The judge said Qatada would be remanded in custody until the verdict on his remaining charge is delivered in September.

One sister told the Telegraph: “We were so happy because we thought he was coming home with us today," one sister said. "This is unfair!"

Abu Qatada has been detained in Muwaqqer, the country's best, and high security, prison, located in the Jordanian desert. He had been convicted of the crimes in absentia.

In 2000, he was sentenced to 15 years for plotting to carry out terror attacks on tourists during the millennium celebrations in Jordan.

Britain was finally able to expel the father-of-five after the two governments formally approved a treaty guaranteeing that evidence obtained by torture would not be used against him in any retrial.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, said his departure proved that the government's efforts to deport him had been worth the £1.7 million legal bill and would be "welcomed by the British public."

Born Omar Mahmud Mohammed Otman in Bethlehem in the now Israeli-occupied West Bank, Abu Qatada is a Jordanian national because the town was part of Jordan when he was born.

Videotapes of his sermons were allegedly found in the Hamburg flat of 9/11 ringleader Mohammed Atta while top Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon once branded Abu Qatada Osama bin Laden's deputy in Europe, although Abu Qatada denies ever having met the slain al-Qaeda leader.

Keith Vaz chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee said: "t is right that the Jordanian court has followed due process. There are still matters outstanding which need to be resolved.

"The British Government was right to remove this man from the UK considering his extremist views and potential links to terrorism.

"We must continue to support the Jordanian Government. I will be writing to the Home Secretary to ask what further help the UK can provide for Jordan."